Cake!

Happy Birthday to the VT!

Long may she reign in sappiness and VT spookiness.

Let there be cake.

If only to distract me from the fact that her being a year older means soon I shall suffer the same fate!

Weekend!

Hooray for the nine day fortnight! I have been sleepy all week and at least the day job is done with.

The writing job continues at a frantic pace. It's very weird to be 200 odd pages into a book and know there's almost that much to go. Normally I'm getting ready to wrap up. But this feels like there's more to go. All good. So no rest really for the wicked but somewhere I will find time for two parties and a lulu meeting. And maybe some purchasing of new bookcases.

Oh and I switched to page count on the word count. More satisfying, less torturous.
Call me shallow.

PS Sharon Lee and Steve Miller ROCK!

Full steam ahead

So the book is going well, I'm averaging ten pages a day which is a lot and fantastic and a pace I hope to continue even though I know it will ease up eventually.

I'm not sure how long this sucker will be but I'm telling myself 90k, page count (mainly to avoid freaking myself out about how long a long book is : ) - I'm used to 60k ). The word meter btw is actual words. Don't know why I'm not doing page count. Just to torture myself probably. Though there's not a huge difference in the two at the moment. Less than usual, so maybe the first person POV makes a difference. Page count wise, I've just passed half-way done thanks to my current roll, long may it continue.

As a result of which, not much other news.

Back to the keyboard.

Vale, Steve

You know, I was never a huge fan of the Crocodile Hunter as a show but Steve Irwin was 100% full-bore, flat out passionate about what he did. About saving our animals and our environment and teaching people to respect the planet. He donated huge sums of money and huge amounts of energy into the thing he believed in. Whether or not you agree with his methods, he was a great example of going for it fearlessly.

People are saying that at least he died doing what he loved, and yes, that's true. But I'm pretty sure that he'd have preferred to die surrounded by the people he loved after another forty or fifty years doing what he loved. And that's the sad thing. So to his family, as to anyone who loses a loved one, my deepest sympathy and to everyone else who respected the man, let's all think about what we can do in some small way to keep his cause alive and save this world for generations of humans and animals to come.

Write-us interruptus

So, I woke up on Saturday with the book shouting in my head. 7.30am. I'm never up at 7.30 am on a Saturday. But when the book is on a roll you don't argue. I'd managed 10 pages the day before, which is a lot for a work day but this felt different. This felt like I could write for hours and the pages would just flow. It felt like I could easily write 30 pages in a day.
It doesn't happen that often. But sometimes it feels like you're just bursting at the seams with story and it's like watching a movie that you just transcribe.
My only problem was, my day was booked. Ballet, going down to Mum and Dad's for Father's Day. Eeek.
So butt in chair and I got another ten pages in a hour and a bit before I had to go out. Reluctantly go out because, I love the ballet, but I didn't want to lose the feeling.
Turns out the ballet wasn't that great. So I could kind of write stuff in my head while sitting in the dark. And today I've managed another six pages so far in between Father's Day and driving back to Melbourne, so I didn't stall the whole thing by not doing what the muse wanting completely. That's happened before, book goes from pouring out to dead stand still. Not pretty. So fingers crossed it will keep flowing for a while, even at a reduced rate but next time, I'm clearing the calendar.
Keep the muse happy, do the work. And take the gift days when they come. Grab 'em with both hands.